


orange

by investigate1d



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends to Lovers, Chaptered, M/M, Protective Louis, Sad Harry, Suicidal Thoughts, depression tw, h/l - Freeform, hl, larry au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 00:31:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6882112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/investigate1d/pseuds/investigate1d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>harry's an adrenaline junkie<br/>louis thinks he's figured it out</p><p>or</p><p>harry and louis have been best friends since 4th grade, but even after 8 years of friendship, there's always more to learn</p>
            </blockquote>





	orange

**Author's Note:**

> i don't really know what i'm doing with this or where it's gonna go but .. yeah ! we'll see ! all u need to know is that they're both seniors in high school, 18, and have been best friends since 4th grade !

Droplets of rain rolled down the end of Louis’ nose, his eyes were squinted at Harry from across a set of train tracks.  
  
“Nah, nope, no. I’m not doing this shit. If you want to get yourself killed, then fine. But I’m not risking it.” Louis called out to him, just as a train’s horn sounded some miles away.  
  
He shivered.  
  
“I take that back, actually,” Louis began.  
  
“Oh, yeah? You worried ‘bout me now, eh?” Harry quickly shot back, laughing as he readied himself to lie down on the tracks.  
  
In his eyes, this was incredibly thrilling, almost like getting high when you’re at home and know your parents will be getting there within the hour. Or the time you got drunk and had to get back home to find your parents were still awake. And still, what made it truly exciting was Louis being here with him. Louis was great, but he didn’t so much like Harry’s weird hobbies. He especially loved when Louis’d pretend not to care, but would nearly be in tears if Harry even found himself in the slightest pain after one of his stunts.  
  
“Yeah, ‘cause it’s a bad thing to worry about your friend who’s about to lay down on a fucking track while a train is probably, like, only three miles from here. Just get it over with already. Fuck you.”  
  
He loved that, too. Louis was so passive-aggressive, it was hilarious and absolutely egged him on.  
  
“Yeah, yeah.” he mumbled, wiping raindrops from his eyes as he laid down across the tracks, eyes shutting.  
  
The vibrations were exhilarating. Knowing that train was so close, while he lay here without any inclination to get up, it was...maddening. This is what he lived for, to say the least.  
  
Louis, on the other hand, was sweating. Eyes darting from Harry to the open track. When he could have sworn he saw lights, he shouted at him, “Get up! Goddamnit, get up!”  
  
Harry was amused, but showed no sign of getting up any time soon, “Chill, bud. I’ve got another minute or two, I’ve done this before.”  
  
Louis shook his head and let out an exaggerated sigh, hands coming up to run through his damp hair, “I fucking hate you.”  
  
“That’s so sweet.”  
  
Harry was aware that the vibrations were growing stronger, and as if on cue, the horn sounded again. It was definitely much closer. Still, he lay, eyes closed as not to get rain in them.  
  
Louis was pacing, it was audible, even over the rain and the reverberations on the tracks. Harry giggled.  
  
“Harry, I _see_ the lights. Get up, right fucking now or so help me, I’ll - I’ll kill you myself.”  
  
"Stop yellin', I'm getting up." Harry waved him off and sat up, looking to the left where the train was, in fact, getting to be pretty damn close.  
  
In a second, he was rolling off of the tracks just as the train sped past, leaving he and Louis separated for nearly three minutes.  
  
When the caboose finally passed, Harry could see Louis, standing very still, face white. Until suddenly he let out a relieved breath and put his hands over his face.  
  
"You fucker, I thought you didn't roll out in time. God, I'm going home." Louis spat, though the harshness of his voice seemed to be outweighed by fear.  
  
Harry wouldn't bring light to it, he knew better.  
  
So they walked home in silence, neither voicing their opinions. While Harry would have liked to ask why Louis got so scared after seeing him pull shit like that countless times before, he didn't. And while Louis would have liked to ask why Harry waited until the very last second to get out of the way, he didn't.  
  
Lately, this had become routine. Sure, they'd gone together plenty of times before to give each other company while Harry did one stupid thing after the next, but as of recent, it'd gotten weird.  
  
As Louis recalled, it started three weeks ago. Harry had invited him out to stand by while he tried to reenact the parkour he'd learned from watching various YouTube videos. It wasn't incredibly dangerous, but he did get scuffed up quite a bit. Which wasn't different, Louis had seen Harry snap his arm before. This was minor. But no, it was when Harry wanted to go to the roof of an old salon that Louis started to get a terrible feeling in his gut.  
  
He told him not to, begged him, even. But Harry was Harry and he did what his heart was set on. Louis went up with him, he couldn't stand the thought of being so far while this happened.  
  
Harry was quite energetic that night, but it seemed to dissipate once they reached the top of the building. Louis was ecstatic then, it seemed Harry was going to back out of the stunt and then they could go home, both unharmed, and could watch a movie. Maybe smoke a bowl. But Harry's mood shifted again and he seemed determined, but still, hesitant. The whole situation still gives Louis goosebumps when he thinks back on it.  
  
He approached the edge of the building and looked down. It wasn't incredibly high, but, it'd do serious damage. Louis stayed away for that reason.  
  
The uneasy feeling returned to his stomach when he realized Harry was acting odd. Not twenty minutes prior was he running, grinning, shouting at Louis to take pictures of him. But now he was quiet, standing far too close to the ledge with seemingly no intention to continue on with his parkour.  
  
"Hey." Louis said softly, a few feet behind him.  
  
Harry seemed to flinch and took a step back on instinct. The smile returned to his lips, and eyes.  
  
"I'm tired as hell. We should get back anyway."  
  
And Louis left it at that.  
  
Fast-forward three weeks and things had gotten strange. Louis now silently worried about Harry's true intentions when he went out to try new stunts, or repeat old ones he enjoyed. He worried the most when he wasn't invited. He couldn't admit it even to himself, but Harry's adrenaline-rushing stunts looked a hell of a lot more like something else now. And it was causing strain in their friendship.  
  
When they reached their street, Harry stopped to look at Louis, expression casual.  
  
"There's this new challenge I heard about from some boarder. I'll see you at the skatepark tomorrow?" Harry questioned him.  
  
Louis didn't know how much of this he could handle, but he felt the need more now than ever to be with Harry every time he did something like this. If something, anything were to...happen, and he weren't there. Louis couldn't finish the thought.  
  
"Yeah, text me in the morning. See ya." he replied, throwing up a joke peace sign as he stepped up onto his driveway.  
  
One more day. He'd confront him tomorrow.


End file.
